Federal Employees In Minnesota Await Word On Work Status

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The standoff on Capitol Hill has more than 18,000 federal employees in Minnesota wondering about their work status if there’s a partial shutdown at midnight.

The vast majority of the workers are members of a union — the American Federation of Government Employees — and all will be waiting to hear if they’re called in to work as essential employees or told to stay home as non-essential workers.

But union vice president Jane Nygaard says her biggest concern is that the essential employees will have to work without getting paid until the shutdown ends.

“It used to be called involuntary servitude and it’s under the constitution that we shouldn’t have to work without pay, but Congress is doing this to federal employees,” Nygaard said.

Essential jobs would include such positions as meat inspectors and prison guards.